How to design a good GUI ?

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Nickel - 25 Feb 2004 02:56 GMT

How to design a good GUI? Use C++ ? Use Java?
who can give me a advice?
Thanks advanced! ^_^

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Antti S. Brax - 25 Feb 2004 07:03 GMT

NickelNeo2008@netscape.com wrote in comp.lang.java.gui:

> How to design a good GUI? Use C++ ? Use Java?

    C++ and Java are programming languages, not GUI libraries. There
    are propably hundreds of different GUI libraries that can be used
    from C++ or Java programs.

    And also these GUI component libraries are just tools with which
    you implement the GUI. They should not affect the usability of the
    interface at all.

    First you design the GUI (and during this design process you either
    make a good UI or not) and then you implement it in the language
    and GUI component library of your choice.

> who can give me a advice?

    Study user interface design! You don't make good user interfaces
    by just slapping whatever components you need to a window. There
    are a lot of books available on this topic.

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Thomas Weidenfeller - 25 Feb 2004 08:13 GMT

> How to design a good GUI? Use C++ ? Use Java?

Programming language is irrelevant.

> who can give me a advice?

Lots of studies, lots of try-and-error, some talent, and years of
experience.

In short, the same road which one has to take to master other subjects.

/Thomas

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Olivier Chafik - 25 Feb 2004 11:37 GMT

> How to design a good GUI? Use C++ ? Use Java?
> who can give me a advice?
> Thanks advanced! ^_^

Java is both a programming language and a full API including GUI widgets,
which makes it a very good choice when you wanna see the same GUI on
windows, linux and macos. Moreover, Swing (the defaultly integrated GUI
API) is one of the simplest GUI API I've heard of. And it features very
complex widgets, skinnable Look And Feel, and so on...
You can generate portable and customizable GUI in C++, though it might
require more time to generate subsequent code. Take a loot at MxWindows and
Qt (the free part of it), that are portable to both Windows and Linux. I've
heard it is not that easy to use.
And Java syntax is simpler and less error-prone than C++'s... Think about it
twice :-)

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°¤oOo¤°livier

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Antti S. Brax - 25 Feb 2004 12:30 GMT

chafiko5@cti.ecp.fr wrote in comp.lang.java.gui:

>> How to design a good GUI? Use C++ ? Use Java?
>> who can give me a advice?

> Java is both a programming language and a full API including GUI widgets,
> which makes it a very good choice when you wanna see the same GUI on
> windows, linux and macos. Moreover, Swing (the defaultly integrated GUI
> API) is one of the simplest GUI API I've heard of. And it features very
> complex widgets, skinnable Look And Feel, and so on...

<snip>

This has nothing to do with designing good user interfaces?

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Olivier Chafik - 25 Feb 2004 20:43 GMT

> chafiko5@cti.ecp.fr wrote in comp.lang.java.gui:
>>> How to design a good GUI? Use C++ ? Use Java?
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> This has nothing to do with designing good user interfaces?

If you think that "good UI" doesn't mean non-buggy and with pretty widgets
yet simple to use, I do agree with you. And if it doesn't mean portable
either, you're awfully right and I'm awfully wrong. Unhopefully, you cannot
completely separate the general aspect of the GUI from the actual tools
you'll implement it with. And as Nickel was talking in terms of languages,
I think that with Java and all related IDEs (JBuilder, NetBeans...) he'll
build "better UIs"... 'Cause if the code behind the UI is hard to generate
and maintain, the UI has great chances to be bad.

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°¤oOo¤°livier

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Antti S. Brax - 26 Feb 2004 07:06 GMT

chafiko5@cti.ecp.fr wrote in comp.lang.java.gui:

>> This has nothing to do with designing good user interfaces?
>
> If you think that "good UI" doesn't mean non-buggy and with pretty widgets
> yet simple to use, I do agree with you.

    Bugginess is a problem of the implementation phase. In the design
    phase all programs are 100% bug free. And since Java does not give
    a guarantee against bugs I am having a hard time understanding the
    point you are trying to make.

> And if it doesn't mean portable
> either, you're awfully right and I'm awfully wrong.

    Good user interface and portability have nothing to do with each
    other. There are good user interfaces in some native Windows
    programs and they aren't portable at all. Many people praise the
    user interfaces on computers made by Apple. Are they portable?

> Unhopefully, you cannot
> completely separate the general aspect of the GUI from the actual tools
> you'll implement it with.

One has to know what kind of features one's tools support. Beyond
that the tools are completely irrelevant.

> And as Nickel was talking in terms of languages,

And as several people have stated, the question was based on lack
of knowledge in GUI design.

> I think that with Java and all related IDEs (JBuilder, NetBeans...) he'll
> build "better UIs"... 'Cause if the code behind the UI is hard to generate
> and maintain, the UI has great chances to be bad.

    Are you an experienced C++ GUI developer too? Someone who knew C++
    but not Java would say the exact opposite. There are IDEs and GUI
    design tools for C++ too.

    BTW, have you tried to _maintain_ GUI code generated by NetBeans?
    :-)

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Shane Mingins - 25 Feb 2004 20:10 GMT

> How to design a good GUI? Use C++ ? Use Java?
> who can give me a advice?
> Thanks advanced! ^_^

Have a look at this book ... I have seen it referred to regarding UI design.

Software for Use : A Practical Guide to the Models and Methods of
Usage-Centered Design
by Larry L. Constantine (Author), Lucy A.D. Lockwood (Author)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0201924781/002-7578798-1915205

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